1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to a portal wheel end for connection to an axle of a vehicle to increase the ground clearance of the axle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portal wheel ends are often connected to an axle of a vehicle to increase the ground clearance of the vehicle. Prior art portal wheel ends typically include a wheel hub with a tire is mounted to the wheel hub. The portal wheel end includes a housing that is connected to the axle and houses an input gear and an output gear. The input gear receives rotational input from the axle and the output gear is coupled to the input gear and to the wheel hub to transfer the rotational input to the wheel hub. The input gear is higher than the output gear, which increases the ground clearance of the axle.
Portal wheel ends are used in a wide variety of applications including military vehicles and aftermarket applications for off-road vehicles. Several different makes and models of axles exist. Each different axle has a different configuration, which in turn defines different locations of mounting arrangements for the portal wheel end and different packaging constraints for placement adjacent the portal wheel end. The portal wheel end must be configured to accommodate for the specific mounting arrangement and packaging constraints of the axle in order to be properly connected to the axle. As such, a different portal wheel end must be designed and manufactured for each of these differently configured axles so that the housing of the portal wheel end can accommodate the specific mounting arrangement and packaging constraints of the specific axle for which the portal wheel end is designed to be connected. In other words, the portal wheel end is typically only used with one specific make and model of axle.
The cost of portal wheel ends is detrimentally increased due to the design and manufacturing costs associated with designing and manufacturing a different portal wheel end for each of the differently configured axles. These costs are especially increased, and even prohibitive, in lower volume production, such as for off-road vehicles that have uncommon axles. As such, there remains a need to develop a portal wheel end that is more modular in nature and can have a majority of its components used in a variety of different applications.